Valentine's Day Dinner

Hello folks!

Sorry for such a delay in posting. The holidays really caught me off guard, and I received a new camera for Christmas! That's right! I got a big-girl camera. I have been eagerly teaching myself to use it. But it has taken me longer than usual to upload my pictures. Hopefully I am getting better every day.

I have lots of recipes to share with you all, but before it gets too outdated, I thought I would start with the Valentine's dinner I made for me and the hubby.

We prefer to stay in on Valentine's day, as opposed to fighting all the crowds. So I came up with a surf and turf, so to speak. Steaks, scallops and veggies. I found some beautiful purple kale, green beans and broccolini at the store. I thought I may be able to trick my hubby with the broccolini, he doesn't like broccoli but does like asparagus. To me it is a cross between the two. It didn't work.

I purchase four scallops, and patted them dry with paper towels.

The steaks were filet mignon medallions. With all the other food, I didn't think huge steaks were necessary.

I wanted to give the scallops, steaks and veggies a bit of asian flavors. So I planned to do a wasabi crust on the steaks and a seasme-soy-ginger sauce for the scallops and veggies. Here is the cast of ingredients: Olive oil (hiding in the back), rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds, crushed red pepper, ginger and garlic along with some wasabi and panko.

I drizzled some olive oil in a grill pan for the steaks, and it turned out in this cute little heart shape. Total accident, I swear!

I then rolled the edges of the steaks in the olive oil, panko and wasabi to get a nice crust on the edge.

I started off searing the steaks on a grill pan. However, I made a mistake by then finishing them in the oven. I would recommend cooking the steaks entirely on a grill or in a grill pan.

I then sautéed thinly sliced garlic and sesame seeds in some olive oil. I added the green beans, broccolini and kale -- tossed to coat and cooked until cooked through but still crunchy.

I sautéed the scallops in very hot olive oil, just a couple minutes a side -- they will continue to cook when removed from the heat. I set the scallops aside and focused on the sauce. For this I combined  rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, crushed red pepper and grated ginger. I threw the sauce into the pan which the scallops cooked in, stirred and brought to a boil and reduced. I then strained the sauce to remove the garlic. 

In the end everything, aside from the steaks, came together very well. The steaks were overcooked and the crust was not crunchy. Again, I would finish the steaks on a grill or grill pan if I were to make this again. I drizzled the sauce over the veggies and scallops. All and all, a pretty tasty Valentine's dinner!

Scallops with sesame-soy-ginger sauce and veggies

Ingredients
2 tbs - Rice vinegar
1 tbs - Toasted sesame oil
1/2 tbs - Sesame seed
To taste - Crushed red pepper
1 tbs - Ginger - grated
3 cloves Garlic - thinly sliced
1 tbs and 1 tsp (separated) - Olive Oil
Scallops
Veggies (I used broccolini, kale and green beans)

• For the veggies - sauté seasme seeds and garlic in 1 tbs olive oil. When seeds and garlic are slightly browned, add veggies, toss and cover. Stir occasionally until vegetables are to desired tenderness.
• Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the scallops, 2 minutes per side, in hot oil. Set scallops aside.
• Combine rice vinegar, sesame oil, crushed red pepper and grated ginger. Add to pan where the scallops cooked. Scrape any scallop bits in sauce, bring sauce to a boil and reduce slightly. Strain liquid to remove ginger solids.
• Pour liquid sauce over scallops and veggies.